June’s Book of the Month is JIM! SIX TRUE STORIES ABOUT ONE GREAT ARTIST: JAMES MARSHALL, written and illustrated by Jerrold Connors.
The book opens with a story about how James Marshall’s friend Harry was “full of wild ideas.” Apparently, Harry called “Jim” one night to tell him “Miss Nelson is missing!” The next day, Harry brought over the story, written out, and pretty quickly Marshall “whipped Harry’s story into shape” with sketches and a name for the substitute teacher (based on a teacher of his own who told him he would never be an artist).
Story Number Two is about how Marshall hated when his work wasn’t taken seriously, so he tried playing classical viola. But he liked drawing better. He also meets his partner Billy in this chapter.
Story Number Three is about his friendly rivalry with Maurice Sendak and it’s pretty sweet. Arnold Lobel makes an appearance as a James Marshall-style pig with a mustache, while Sendak is a bulldog.
Story Number Four describes how much Marshall wanted to win an award for his work, with a few fun thoughts on his illustrations for The Owl and the Pussycat.
Story Number Five offers some pertinent wisdom during a school visit, and Story Number Six describes how sick Marshall eventually became, without specifically mentioning AIDS (that’s in the backmatter.)
I love, love, love this picture book biography about one of my kidlit heroes, James Marshall. The narrator is a fox, based on the character he thought was most like him. Text is broken up into six distinct stories (or chapters), and it’s paced like the chapter books Marshall wrote. The excellent backmatter enriches the book with context and additional, thoughtful information. Ink and watercolor illustrations, digitally enhanced, are reminiscent of Marshall’s “cartoony style,” but don’t call them “cute” or “zany”—Marshall hated that. Connors even includes a colorful timeline which graphically displays some of the elements in this picture book. It’s not the easiest of reads—it’s hectic, chaotic, and full of depth, but it feels like the biography James Marshall would want and deserves.
--Lynn
The book opens with a story about how James Marshall’s friend Harry was “full of wild ideas.” Apparently, Harry called “Jim” one night to tell him “Miss Nelson is missing!” The next day, Harry brought over the story, written out, and pretty quickly Marshall “whipped Harry’s story into shape” with sketches and a name for the substitute teacher (based on a teacher of his own who told him he would never be an artist).
Story Number Two is about how Marshall hated when his work wasn’t taken seriously, so he tried playing classical viola. But he liked drawing better. He also meets his partner Billy in this chapter.
Story Number Three is about his friendly rivalry with Maurice Sendak and it’s pretty sweet. Arnold Lobel makes an appearance as a James Marshall-style pig with a mustache, while Sendak is a bulldog.
Story Number Four describes how much Marshall wanted to win an award for his work, with a few fun thoughts on his illustrations for The Owl and the Pussycat.
Story Number Five offers some pertinent wisdom during a school visit, and Story Number Six describes how sick Marshall eventually became, without specifically mentioning AIDS (that’s in the backmatter.)
I love, love, love this picture book biography about one of my kidlit heroes, James Marshall. The narrator is a fox, based on the character he thought was most like him. Text is broken up into six distinct stories (or chapters), and it’s paced like the chapter books Marshall wrote. The excellent backmatter enriches the book with context and additional, thoughtful information. Ink and watercolor illustrations, digitally enhanced, are reminiscent of Marshall’s “cartoony style,” but don’t call them “cute” or “zany”—Marshall hated that. Connors even includes a colorful timeline which graphically displays some of the elements in this picture book. It’s not the easiest of reads—it’s hectic, chaotic, and full of depth, but it feels like the biography James Marshall would want and deserves.
--Lynn